1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bicomponent fiber nonwoven material which, due to its shape as well as the conditions for its production, exhibits ultra high resiliency. These materials are suitable for use as a body-side liner material for personal care absorbent articles including diapers, feminine pads, incontinence garments, and training pants, as inserts for personal care absorbent products, and as a shell for an absorbent core of such articles. These materials provide for feces separation and containment, air circulation, menses management and containment, and fluid distribution and containment.
2. Description of Prior Art
Absorbent personal care articles such as sanitary napkins, disposable diapers, incontinent-care pads and the like are widely used, and much effort has been made to improve the effectiveness and functionalities of these articles. Thick, flat personal care articles of the past that do not fit the shape of the human body and do not conform to the movements of the user have been largely replaced by resiliently conforming 3-dimensional, body-shaped articles.
Diaper dermatitis is a skin condition resulting from the prolonged contact of wet occlusive diapers with the skin of the wearer. This prolonged contact can lead to excessive hydration of the outermost skin layer, thereby reducing the skin's ability to function as a barrier. As a result, there is an increase in the permeation of irritants, susceptibility of the skin to physical damage, and invasion of the skin by microorganisms. Maintaining a normal skin hydration level helps the skin maintain its optimum barrier properties. Thus, it is important that personal care absorbent articles, to the extent possible, prevent excessive skin hydration while containing body exudates and providing a soft, dry and comfortable feel to the wearer.
Current occlusive absorbent garments with flat liners hold body exudates against the skin of the wearer. Heat and moisture are prevented from escaping from the product due to the close fitting nature of the product design to prevent leakage. This problem is most severe in the insult region of personal care absorbent products. The flat liner provides a high contact area with the skin which can act as a pathway to conduct back to the skin free liquid that is not locked up by the absorbent core, especially when the product is under pressure at the insult point, because the flat liner cannot provide a sufficient degree of separation of the wearer from the free liquid. In addition, flat liners do not allow the insult region of the personal care absorbent product to communicate with the ambient air to allow humidity to be reduced in the insult region as well as away from the insult region.
Numerous means for achieving communication of the interior region of a personal care absorbent product with the ambient air, including breathable backsheets, waste vents, and leg vents, are known. However, these methods suffer from a variety of difficiencies, rendering them less effective than desired to achieve normal, unoccluded skin hydration levels. For example, breathable backsheets provide a pathway for drying through the backsheet to the interior of the absorbent product. However, the wet absorbent can hinder true communication between the skin and the ambient air. In addition, waist and leg vents through the backsheet tend to either be occluded against the skin or provide leakage pathways.
Other known methods include the use of folded absorbent cores or layers under the liner to dry the liner, that is the skin contact layer. However, these methods require undesireable process options and economics and do not truly allow the ambient air to dry the skin of the wearer; rather, they merely dry the skin contact layer. As a result, there is a need for a material that can be used for, among other things, a liner material for personal care absorbent products such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, sanitary napkins, bandages and the like, which is capable of reducing the humidity in the insult region of the product and the skin hydration level of the wearer.